Mood Induction Procedure Research Articles

The effect of entertaining movie scenes on positive emotion in distressed students during pandemic Covid-19

Pandemic is a life event strongly associated with uncertainty, ambiguity, and loss of control. Each of which triggers emotional distress that has become a growing topic in research studies related to stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. A number of previous studies have proven a possible effect of providing a stimulus that involves cognitive processes on emotional responses. Movie scene is one of the most effective methods used in Mood Induction Procedures (MIP). Positive emotion that reflects the extent to which a person feels enthusiastic and active could also be raised with this method. A total of 60 sophomore year students of the Faculty of Psychology at Padjadjaran University with emotional distress were selected using convenience sampling. Participants were divided into two groups, in which one group received treatment in the form of entertaining movie scenes, and the other group did not. Both groups filled out PANAS (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule) questionnaire to provide measurement result of the positive emotion they experienced. Independent sample t-test was performed and it showed a significant result that the provision of movie scenes affected positive emotion in participants who were experiencing distress.

Mood Influences the Perception of the Sitting Affordance

This study tested the influence of mood on the perception of the sitting affordance in two experiments. The objective of Experiment 1 was to evaluate participants' perception of the sitting affordance, without mood induction. Forty-three participants assessed their maximum sitting height (SHmax) from different seat heights (perceptual SHmax) before performing the action (motor SHmax). They accurately perceived the sitting affordance, in body-scaled intrinsic units. Indeed, participants all perceived they could sit as long as the seat height did not exceed 82% (perceptual πc) of their total leg length (L), while the actual value of this intrinsic relationship was 83% (motor πc). In Experiment 2, forty participants were subjected to a mood induction procedure before performing the task employed in Experiment 1. Neutral participants accurately perceived the sitting affordance, as their perceptual πc was equivalent to their motor πc. However, both joyful and sad participants had their perceptual πc significantly lower than their motor πc. These differences between mood groups were not explained by a variation in maximal effective action capabilities. Indeed, participants had equivalent motor πc, whatever their mood. Two interpretations are offered to explain how joyful and sad moods could influence the accuracy of affordance perception. The first is based on their potential effect on organism's energy level. The second is related to the disruption of participants' attunement to optical variables relevant for action guidance and/or to perceptual-motor calibration.

The effect of sad mood on subjective appraisal of memory performance in older people with and without subjective memory complaints: An experimental study

AbstractBackgroundSubjective memory complaints (SMC) have been identified as a possible precursor to cognitive decline and may indicate a need for an early intervention for at‐risk older adults. However, it is well‐established that low mood is associated with SMC, leading to claims that memory concerns in older people may often reflect primarily psychological symptoms. This study aimed to determine the effect of low mood on subjective memory appraisal in older adults.MethodWe used a film‐based mood induction procedure (MIP) to test the effect of sad vs. neutral mood on subjective appraisal of memory performance in an experimental 2X2 between‐subjects design. Participants were 98 cognitively unimpaired older people (n=45 with SMC), randomised to the sad MIP (n=56) or the neutral MIP (n=42). All participants completed measures of trait SMC and ruminative self‐focused attention (RSFA) as well as perceived performance and metacognitive experience (ME) following the MIP and completion of a face‐name and a maze‐learning task.ResultParticipants in the sad MIP condition (M=42.75, SD=30.97) reported significantly greater sadness than those in the neutral condition following the manipulation (M=11.57, SD=18.44). The association between objective and subjective memory performance was stronger for cued recall on the face‐name task (r=.61, p=.001) and was weaker free recall on the face‐name task (r=.26, p=0.016) as well on the maze‐learning task (r=‐.16, p=.200). Contrary to expectation, there was no significant effect of mood condition on perceived performance on Face‐Name learning task (MD=‐2.43, p=498), but sad mood was associated with better perceived performance on the maze‐learning task (MD=13.34, p=.015). Results also indicated that RSFA and ME were implicated as mechanisms in subjective memory performance appraisal.ConclusionFindings indicate that SMC is a complex multifaceted phenomenon which may be underpinned by maladaptive self‐regulation and attentional systems, suggesting that psychological interventions may be appropriate for many older adults with SMC.

EEG-based emotion recognition in an immersive virtual reality environment: From local activity to brain network features

Emotion electroencephalography (EEG) datasets play a significant role in EEG-based emotion recognition research, providing a platform for comparisons of different emotion recognition methods. Most datasets used 2D images or videos as mood induction procedures (MIPs); however, considering the differences in EEG dynamics between 2D and 3D environments, experimental research based on 2D MIPs may have poor results being applied in a real 3D world. In this paper, we (1) developed a new emotion EEG dataset, virtual reality (VR) emotional EEG dataset (VREED), which used 3D VR videos as MIPs; and (2) Presented a baseline for the performance of negative/positive emotion classification in the new dataset. The best average accuracy of 73.77% ± 2.01% was obtained by using the combination of theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (8–13 Hz), beta (13–30 Hz), and gamma (30–49 Hz) relative power features. Additionally, we observed that occipital and frontal regions played a more critical role than other regions in emotion processing from Spearman correlation analysis and feature selection. This new VR emotion EEG dataset will be publicly available, and we encourage other researchers to evaluate their emotion classification methods on the VREED.

Self-Portraits: Literal Self-Portraits, Mandalas, and Free Drawings to Reduce Anxiety

This mixed methods study assessed the emotional impact of therapeutic art techniques in reducing subjective anxiety by comparing three options for drawing a self-portrait: literal self-portrait, mandala, and free drawing. Undergraduate college students (n = 60) were provided with a mood induction procedure and then randomly assigned to a drawing condition. State anxiety increased after mood was induced, and decreased after completing a drawing for all conditions. There were no statistical differences in state anxiety across drawing conditions at any time point. Qualitative analysis revealed both shared and unique themes among drawing conditions. This study concluded that the process of drawing a self-portrait, regardless of approach, generally reduced state anxiety.

A video is worth a thousand thoughts: comparing a video mood induction procedure to an autobiographical recall technique

ABSTRACT Objective: Two common mood induction procedures (MIPs) use autobiographical recall (AR) or video clips. The first relies upon internal generation of mood states whereas the second presents external information to elicit emotion. Often new video clips are created for each experiment. However, no study has examined the efficacy and specificity of a freely available video clip compared to AR for use in other studies. Method: In the present experiment, participants watched either video clips or engaged in autobiographical recall to induce an emotional state. Participants were 53 University first year psychology students who took part for course credit. Results: The anger video clip was more effective compared to AR at increasing the target emotion (anger) and decreasing the non-target emotions - happiness and serenity. Compared to baseline both the video and AR anger scores were higher than sadness scores. Conclusion: The response to recalling personal events is more influenced by personality characteristics such as trait anger and neuroticism compared to the response to the video stimulus, which proved a cleaner stimulus. Implications for future research in both mood induction and media are discussed.

Regulating emotion following severe traumatic brain injury: a randomized controlled trial of heart-rate variability biofeedback training

ABSTRACT Background While difficulties regulating emotions are almost ubiquitous after traumatic brain injury (TBI), remediation techniques are limited. Heart-rate variability (HRV) is a physiological measure of emotion regulation and can be modified using biofeedback training. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy of repeated biofeedback training for improving emotion regulation difficulties following TBI. Design Fifty adults with severe TBI were allocated to either biofeedback or waitlist conditions. Treatment consisted of six biofeedback sessions whereby participants were taught to breathe at their resonant frequency. Outcomes included changes in physiological and subjective reactivity to anger-induction, emotional well-being, and physiology at rest, together with symptoms of psychological distress and sleep disturbances (ACTRN12618002031246). Results While biofeedback led to reduced skin conductance, it did not affect any other objective or subjective response to the mood induction procedure. Biofeedback led to fewer sleep disturbances, and reduced negative mood valence and depression during follow-up. Conclusions HRV biofeedback training is a feasible technique following TBI that transfers to improved symptoms of general emotional well-being, psychological distress, and sleep. Biofeedback does not transfer to a laboratory-based emotional provocation task. HRV biofeedback training may represent a novel adjunct for generalized emotional difficulties following injury.

How long do mood induction procedure (MIP) primes really last? Implications for cognitive vulnerability research

How long do mood induction procedure (MIP) primes really last? Implications for cognitive vulnerability research

Learning about a serious disease: When a personalized message is harmful unless you are happy

AbstractAccording to the personalization principle, addressing learners by means of a personalized compared to a nonpersonalized message can foster learning. Interestingly, though, a recent study found that the personalization principle can invert for aversive contents. The present study investigated whether the negative effect of a personalized message for an aversive content can be compensated when learners are in a happy mood. It was hypothesized that the negative effect of a personalized compared to a nonpersonalized message would only be observable for participants in a sad mood, while for participants in a happy mood a personalized message should be beneficial. A 2 × 2 between‐subject design with mood (happy vs. sad) and personalization (personalized vs. nonpersonalized message) was used (N = 125 University students). Mood was experimentally varied prior to learning. Learning outcomes were measured by a retention and a transfer test. Results were essentially in line with the assumption: For participants in the sad mood condition, a negative effect of a personalized message was observable for retention and transfer. For participants in the happy mood condition, a positive effect of personalized message was observable for retention, but no effect for transfer. Note that the manipulation check measure for the mood induction procedure did not detect differences between conditions; this may be due to a shortcoming of the used measure (as indicated by an additional evaluation study). The study emphasizes the importance to consider the inherent emotional content of a topic, such as its aversive nature, since the emotional content of a topic can be a boundary condition for design principles in multimedia learning. The study also highlights the complex interplay of externally induced and inherently arising emotions.

How long do mood induction procedure (MIP) primes really last? Implications for cognitive vulnerability research

BackgroundMood Induction Procedures (MIPs) are used widely in research on cognitive vulnerability to depression. Although empirical evidence supports certain MIPs as effective, little research has evaluated whether MIP-induced sad moods are sufficiently persistent. This study aimed to determine (1) how long an MIP-induced mood lasts according to commonly used operational definitions and (2) whether these findings vary according to the type of MIP used. MethodsFour-hundred-and-one undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of three commonly used sad MIPs (music, memory, music+memory) or to one of three matched neutral MIPs. Mood was repeatedly measured immediately prior to and following the MIP. ResultsResults did not support the widely held belief that commonly used MIPs induce a sufficient and persistent sad mood. The memory-related MIPs induced the most persistent sad mood. Based on the majority of operational definitions, however, induced mood effects did not last longer than 4 min, regardless of MIP type. LimitationsFuture studies should examine additional factors that may have affected the trajectories observed in the current study (e.g., task completed in between mood measurements) and in vulnerable (e.g., past-depressed) populations. ConclusionsThis study constitutes an important first step in validating the use of MIPs in cognitive vulnerability research and provides researchers with important information on future study designs. More important, the study raises doubt about the validity of various conclusions drawn from some MIP studies and calls into question the theoretical conceptualizations of depression that are based on potentially biased results and a possibly incomplete literature.

How is emotion associated with driving speed? A study on taxi drivers in Japan

Drivers’ emotions significantly affect their driving performance and thus are related to driving safety issues. The objective of this study is to examine how taxi drivers’ on-duty emotional states are associated with their driving speed in real driving situations. An experiment was conducted among 15 taxi drivers in Hiroshima, Japan for 15 consecutive days in 2019. A biometric device was used to track drivers’ emotional states while on duty; the five examined states included happy, angry, relaxed, sad, and neutral. Random effects panel regression results revealed that negative emotions of taxi drivers (angry and sad) have significant impacts on increasing driving speed. In contrast, a neutral emotional state is related with decreased speed, while happy and relaxed emotional states show no significant impact. Moreover, we found that factors such as driving with customers, driving long hours, and number of break hours are significantly associated with driving speed. This study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence on the roles that emotional states play in explaining driving speed in real-life driving situations, in contrast to studies that use simulated driving or mood induction procedures.

Music Therapy for Depression in Adolescents: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: The purpose of this systematic review is to examine the evidence of music therapy for depression in adolescents in order to answer the following questions: (1) What types of music therapy are being employed to target symptoms of depression in adolescents? (2) What is the effect of music therapy on depressive symptoms of depression in adolescents? Methods: PRISMA guidelines were followed in performing this systematic review. Studies published in the last 25 years from January 1996 to December 2020 were identified through the use of the PubMed database, using the keywords: ‘music’ AND ‘depres*’ OR ‘anx*’. Two authors independently conducted a focused analysis and reached a final consensus on 8 studies that met the specific selection criteria and passed the study quality checks. Results: Eight randomized controlled trials were selected in this review including 8 music therapy interventions for depression: musical negative mood induction procedures (NMIP), Health RHYTHMS drumming protocol, group music therapy (GMT), musical improvisation, Chinese 5-element music therapy, percussion exercises, and cognitive behavioral therapy combined with music therapy. Overall, music therapy interventions appear to significantly reduce depressive symptoms in adolescents. Conclusion: The findings of this systematic review indicate that music therapy may be an effective tool for reducing symptoms of depression in adolescents. There is a need for large sample studies examining this area, along with those that address symptoms of anxiety. Future research incorporating music therapy into clinical practice is necessary.

The Influence of Affective State on Subjective-Report Measurements: Evidence From Experimental Manipulations of Mood.

A substantial portion of the knowledge base of psychology is based on subjective reports with a risk of information bias. The objective of the present study was to elucidate one contextual source of variance and potential bias in subjective reports: the influence of affective state at the time of responding to questionnaires. Employees (N = 67, abstaining from stimulants and activities that may influence emotional and physiological state) were subjected to mood-induction procedures in the laboratory. Neutral, positive, and negative moods were induced by combinations of pictures from the international affective picture set (IAPS) and music. The subjects responded to questions on visual analog scales (VAS) in order to optimize sensitivity and attenuate short-term memory effects. Most subjects exhibited significant affective-state inductions with no change in arousal. The analyses took affective response to the manipulation into account. Only four of 20 questions were somewhat influenced by induced affective state: job overload, social support from co-workers, satisfaction with getting to develop personally, and an item measuring agreeableness. In general, responding to questions of work that were phrased for valence was little or insignificantly influenced by induced affective state.

Dimensional and Discrete Emotional Reactivity in Alzheimer’s Disease: Film Clips as a Research Tool in Dementia

Background: No studies have been conducted to date on the dimensional and discrete classification of emotions to study the emotional reactivity of older adults with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Additionally, the presentation of film clips with affective content is currently one of the most effective and widely used Mood Induction Procedures (MIPS). However, it has been scarcely used in AD patients. Objective: Based on the dimensional and discrete models of emotion, this study examines the emotional reactivity of older adults with AD, using a popular set of film clips to induce emotions. Methods: We compared the responses of older adults aged over 65-years with mild to moderate AD (n = 15) and a healthy comparison group (n = 17) to six target emotions: disgust, fear, anger, sadness, amusement, and tenderness. Results: The results showed significant differences in the reactivity of fear, anger, and sadness between AD patients and healthy comparison group. However, the responses of the two groups to positive film clips were similar. Only in the amusement clip did the AD participants show a higher intensity response. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the characteristic loss of cognitive abilities in AD is related to a reduction in the ability to react to emotional stimuli, especially negative ones. However, these abilities seem to be preserved when it comes to positive emotions. Future research is necessary to investigate whether the positivity effect is present in AD patients.

The Influence of Natural and Induced Emotional States on the Recognition of Emotional Facial Expressions

There are a number of factors that influence emotion recognition, one of which is the perceiver’s emotional state. This study verifies the predictions of two theories concerning the influence of mood on emotion recognition. According to the affect-as-information theory, people in a positive mood are prone to a more global processing style and perceive emotional facial expressions more easily compared to those in a negative mood. The emotion congruence theory claims that people in a positive mood are more sensitive to positive expressions and people in a negative mood are more sensitive to negative expressions. These predictions were tested with the experimental paradigm using morphed faces developed by Jackson and Arlegui-Prieto. Study 1 used participants’ natural moods; its findings failed to replicate the main results of the original study. Study 2 used laboratory mood induction and showed that participants in a negative mood are more sensitive to negative emotions compared to those in positive mood. These findings support the emotion congruence theory. However, this result was obtained only for the participants with the most effective mood induction. The observed effects of mood are weak and fragile. For more persuasive results, a study with greater statistical power using more effective mood induction procedures is needed.

The effect of induced mood on traders’ preferences in asset markets – experimental evidence

PurposeIn this paper, we study the effect of induced positive and negative moods on traders' willingness to trade (pay and accept) in experimental asset markets.Design/methodology/approachWe conduct experimental asset markets where subjects undergo a mood induction procedure prior to trade. After the subjects are induced with either negative or positive affect, they can trade an experimental asset with a known stream of dividends for a known number of periods.FindingsWe first show that both positive and negative affects are associated with larger positive deviations from fundamental values. We also show that when subjects are induced with positive mood, they bid higher prices but for fewer units of the stock. On the supply side, positive affect is associated with higher prices and quantities, and consequently in higher willingness to offer. Finally, we use our experimental data to test existing theories on mood effect. We find that negative affect is related to momentum trading, while positive affect is associated with information processing.Originality/valueTo our knowledge, this is the first work that studies the effect of mood on traders' behavior, rather than market outcomes.

Creating evil: Can sadism be induced?

Sadism, as with other dark personality features, is generally considered to be a relatively stable trait. However, there has been little examination of the extent to which sadism may also be a state dependent characteristic. This research examines the extent to which sadistic interest or tendencies can be influenced through a specifically developed and very brief mood induction procedure. An anonymous online study, comprising questionnaires and a short picture-based induction procedure was completed by 323 participants. Participants were randomly assigned to an experimental or control condition by the hosting software, Qualtrics. Analysis showed that increased sadistic interest was reported by those in the experimental condition who had higher levels of baseline sadism. The findings indicate that a brief and simple procedure can be used to enhance pre-existing sadistic interest. Further research is needed to examine whether more immersive inductions produce a greater or lasting effect, and to understand the extent to which these might influence behaviour.

The effects of music induction on mood and affect in an Asian context

A sample of Asian participants was assessed using the Brunel Mood Scale and the Positive & Negative Affect Scale before and after music mood induction procedures to which each participant was randomly assigned. A series of mixed analyses of variance with the type of music (happy/positive vs. sad/negative) as the between-subject factor and pre–post music exposure as the within-subject factor revealed that the sad music induction attenuated the positive moods Vigor and Happiness, as well as the negative moods Anger, Tension, Fatigue, and Confusion but had no significant impact on Depression or Calmness, casting doubt on the robustness of Thayer’s circumplex model of mood formation. The happy music induction increased Vigor and decreased Fatigue and Confusion, suggesting that positive music has the potential to lift energy levels. The happy music induction led to increases in Positive Affect only, whereas the sad music condition attenuated both Positive Affect and Negative affect, casting doubt on Watson and Tellegen’s contention that the Affect systems are independent and suggesting that the bipolarity hypothesis may not provide a comprehensive explanation of mood formation. The mechanisms by which music may impact mood and potential differences in the expression of affect between Asian and Western participants are discussed.

Attention bias in test anxiety: the impact of a test-threat congruent situation, presentation time, and approach-avoidance temperament

Previous studies have shown that test anxiety is related to attention bias. It is not clear, however, whether a congruent test-threat manipulation is required to elicit this bias or whether the bias is a result of automatic or conscious processes. In the present study we used a mood induction procedure to examine attention bias in test anxious persons using a dot-probe task and incorporated approach-avoidance temperament as a possible moderator. Results showed that the mood induction procedure was not effective in manipulating state anxiety. In the absence of an effective test-threat manipulation, high test anxious persons showed attention bias towards supraliminal threat stimuli. Attention bias was only shown to subliminal threat stimuli in high test anxious persons with a strong approach temperament. This suggests that the mechanism for attention bias to threat stimuli in high test anxious persons is a result of both automatic and conscious processes.

Context matters: The role of subjective arousal during Attentional Bias Modification targeting socially anxious students

Background and objectivesAttentional Bias Modification (ABM) paradigms targeting anxiety aim to reduce attentional biases for threatening stimuli and thereby reduce anxiety. Based on cognitive theories of performance and learning, elevated levels of arousal during ABM might enhance its effectiveness by making training more engaging and activating fear schemas. This study investigated whether elevated levels of arousal during ABM would increase its effectiveness in reducing attentional bias, stress reactivity, and post-event processing. MethodWe randomly assigned 79 high socially anxious students to a session of ABM or control training preceded by either a social stress or control induction to manipulate arousal. Training outcomes were attentional bias, stress reactivity, and post-event processing. Subjective arousal was assessed before, during, and after training. ResultsResults indicated that ABM was not successful in reducing attentional bias, stress reactivity or post-event processing, and that the effects of ABM were not moderated by subjective arousal. There was a trend towards ABM being more effective than control training in reducing attentional bias directly after training when participants were more aroused. However, this effect was not maintained one day after the training. LimitationsThe arousal manipulation did not result in significant between-group differences in subjective arousal. ConclusionsThis study did not provide support for the moderating role of arousal in ABM training effects. Replications with more effective mood induction procedures and more power are needed as a trend finding was observed suggesting that higher levels of arousal improved the direct ABM effects on attentional bias.